Pointing to Heaven and Swearing an Oath, Eight Bows to Become Brothers

Inside the Heaven Burial Bell.

Gu Youwei, suppressed beneath endless divine might, was filled with desolation.

As she gazed at the Young Heavenly Emperor in the mirror, she had already become a weeping mess.

Ever since birth, she had been carefully cherished by Gu Changqing. Later, after joining a sect, she had been doted on by her master and taught an ancient inheritance.

She had never suffered such misery.

Nor had she ever imagined how difficult it was for a child with no backing to survive in this cruel world.

At this moment, Gu Youwei's heart twisted like knives. She wept soundlessly.

If he had not given his Immortal Root to her, how could her brother have suffered such hardship?

He was the Heavenly Emperor who would later suppress the Three Realms!

Everything she had once enjoyed should have been his to begin with!

"Gu Changqing! Gu Changqing!!"

Gu Changqing was awakened by a piercing voice.

He had badly wanted to sleep, but Jiang Minghuang was shaking him violently. Once again, he felt this fellow was truly annoying. He should not have saved him just now.

"Stop shaking me. I wasn't beaten to death, but you're going to shake me to death..."

Gu Changqing coughed up a mouthful of blood. The searing pain throughout his body cleared his mind somewhat.

"What are you doing?!"

"Who told you to help me?!"

Gu Changqing did not open his eyes, but he could hear the sobbing in Jiang Minghuang's voice. He said, "We've been together for two years, after all. I couldn't just watch you get beaten to death. If you live, there'll still be someone to talk to. If you die, the world will be terribly dull."

"Then why didn't you just lie down after taking that palm strike? If you lay down, wouldn't they have stopped hitting you?" Jiang Minghuang roared.

Gu Changqing smiled at the corner of his lips but did not answer.

"There's really something wrong with you." Jiang Minghuang collapsed beside Gu Changqing.

Without any warning, he suddenly began bawling his eyes out.

Gu Changqing was somewhat moved. This fellow had always been extremely tough. Usually, after being beaten up, he could still grin and ask Gu Changqing what they were eating later.

But this time, he had been trampled beneath someone's feet. The pride he valued most had been utterly crushed.

Gu Changqing let him cry and howl.

After a long while, Jiang Minghuang seemed to have calmed down somewhat. "When has I, Jiang Minghuang, ever suffered such humiliation? I'm a scion of a towering great family from the Upper Realm!"

Gu Changqing had never understood why this fellow cared so much about that so-called pride.

He said, "What's so shameful about it? You only got beaten up."

"Hmph, that's you. It's not shameful when you get beaten, but when I get beaten, it's humiliating beyond measure! I'm not like you."

Gu Changqing smiled silently and ignored him.

Jiang Minghuang said, "I know you don't believe me, but I really am the young master of a great family in the Upper Realm—the kind with a status high enough to reach the heavens."

Gu Changqing still ignored him.

Jiang Minghuang continued, "One day, I'll show you just how high my status truly is."

Gu Changqing said, "No matter how high your status is, getting beaten isn't shameful."

"For a man, shame lies in losing his fighting spirit, in throwing away his backbone. So what if someone tramples you beneath their feet? Did you beg for mercy? Did you call them grandpa?"

Hearing this, Jiang Minghuang froze for a moment.

Then he suddenly laughed, laughing with all his strength.

"Gu Changqing, you really are an idiot. You got beaten and still refused to lie down and play dead. A person like you is the biggest fool under heaven."

Gu Changqing said, "Aren't you the same? You could have just called them grandpa. Why take a beating instead?"

"Two fools, yet we actually forced off a whole group of cultivators..."

The two began laughing again. In the biting cold wind, they laughed like madmen, truly looking like a pair of fools.

Gu Changqing asked him, "How long do you plan to keep living like this? My Dao foundation has been destroyed. I'll never be able to cultivate again in this life. But you're different. Why not find a sect and cultivate properly?"

Jiang Minghuang chuckled. "The Jiang Family is a towering great family. Why would I need to worry about cultivation? If I were to take someone else as my master, I, Jiang Minghuang, couldn't bear that disgrace."

Gu Changqing fell silent. Indeed, though the two of them were now in the same circumstances, Jiang Minghuang had far more choices than he did.

"All my life, I, Jiang Minghuang, have never liked owing others. You owed me a life before, but over these past two years, I've come to owe you more and more. Without you, I might have starved to death long ago. This time, you even took a beating for me. I'm afraid I'll never be able to repay you. How about the two of us become sworn brothers?"

"What? If we become brothers, you won't have to repay the favor?"

"Brothers live and die together. What's mine is yours, and what's yours is mine. Naturally, there's no need to draw such clear lines."

Gu Changqing smiled faintly and opened his eyes.

Suddenly, he felt that what this fellow said made quite a bit of sense.

His life had been full of hardship. Both his parents were dead, and Gu Youwei had been his only family in this world. Now even his little sister was no longer by his side. Having another brother seemed pretty good.

"How do we swear brotherhood?"

Jiang Minghuang pulled Gu Changqing to his feet.

The two stood shoulder to shoulder beneath the vault of heaven, their fingers reaching into the void.

"I'm one year older than you..."

Jiang Minghuang looked at Gu Changqing and was about to say something, but when he saw that blood-soaked face and those eyes whose age could not be discerned, he paused for no apparent reason. "Then you shall be my elder brother."

The sky was azure, as though washed clean by rain.

The two youths stood proudly beneath the heavens and spoke in unison.

"In times of joy, we shall drink deep and sing together."

"Where the winds rise, we shall roam mountains and cross rivers together."

"Against powerful foes, we shall brave life and death together."

"In the face of peril, we shall face seas of fire and mountains of blades together."

"When my brother has need, this younger brother shall draw his sword and go at once."

"When my younger brother is in trouble, this elder brother shall not turn back even in the face of nine deaths!"

"With brothers at my side, I shall be invincible beneath the heavens!"

After neutralizing Cao Yuwei's attack this time, Mei Gongzi did not rush to counterattack. She simply stood where she was.

Cao Yuwei frowned slightly. Was this little girl's perception truly so sharp? After he had formed armor from flames, he still had other methods at his disposal. If Mei Gongzi had followed up with an attack, he had been confident he could use that method to restrain her. Yet she had not advanced, forcing the ability he had poised and ready to interrupt.

The battle blade slashed out again, its powerful blade intent several degrees stronger than before. Cao Yuwei moved with the blade, man and weapon as one, charging straight at Mei Gongzi.

The Heavenly Secret Plume in Mei Gongzi's hand formed the Heavenly Mysterious Circle once more. With an instantaneous shift, she switched positions. While dissolving her opponent's attack, she also broke his lock-on. In the next instant, she was already elsewhere. A golden-red flash flickered across Cao Yuwei's body; had she not dodged so quickly, another ability would undoubtedly have descended upon her.

A battle of attrition! She seemed intent on exhausting Cao Yuwei.

Yet no one doubted the origin of this ability. After all, the Peacock Demon Race's greatest innate gift was Stellar Transposition. Her technique bore the same wondrous resemblance to Stellar Transposition.